TRADITIONAL NEW TERRITORIES FARMING: MANURING
P. H. HASE
241
J. Dyer Ball in his "Things Chinese" under the heading "Agriculture" has an interesting page on the indefatigableness of the Chinese farmer in keeping up the fertility of his fields by constant manuring with all conceivable substances, but particularly with human night-soil and organic waste of all sorts. While it is widely known that traditional subsistence rice farmers in the New Territories did keep up the fertility of their soil by the constant manuring practices described by Dyer Ball, details of exactly how the manuring was done are not so widely known, and this Note details some points discovered from oral questioning of elderly villagers on the subject.2
By far the most important fertilisers used in the New Territories were human and animal wastes; night-soil and urine. These were prepared in three distinct ways.
Each house had a urine bucket -- a simple wooden bucket with a rope handle which was usually kept in a small walled-off area immediately to one side of the main door of the house.
In addition, each family would place large pots in convenient corners of its fields as a urinal. Further such pots would be placed wherever public footpaths crossed a family's fields. In some cases, a simple low fence or rough wall would shield these pots, to render them more attractive to the more sensitive and shy wayfarer. Every day the family would take a bucket and empty their pots into it, and carry the bucket back and empty it into large storage jars belonging to the family. These storage jars were placed on the edge of the rice-drying grounds (†).
Cattle urine was a particularly valuable addition to the family storage jars. Several villagers have told us that cattle were trained to urinate as soon as they came back to the village at night. Boys of the family would stand by with special buckets on long poles to catch the urine: if the cattle were slow, they would be whistled to in a special way, or be tapped gently with the rim of the bucket on the appropriate spot.
TRADITIONAL NEW TERRITORIES FARMING: MANURING
P. H. HASE
241
J. Dyer Ball in his "Things Chinese" under the heading "Agriculture" has an interesting page on the indefatigableness of the Chinese farmer in keeping up the fertility of his fields by constant manuring with all conceivable substances, but particularly with human night-soil and organic waste of all sorts. While it is widely known that traditional subsistence rice farmers in the New Territories did keep up the fertility of their soil by the constant manuring practices described by Dyer Ball, details of exactly how the manuring was done are not so widely known, and this Note details some points discovered from oral questioning of elderly villagers on the subject.2
By far the most important fertilisers used in the New Territories were human and animal wastes; night-soil and urine. These were prepared in three distinct ways.
Each house had a urine bucket -- a simple wooden bucket with a rope handle which was usually kept in a small walled off area immediately to one side of the main door of the house.
In addition, each family would place large pots in convenient corners of its fields as a urinal. Further such pots would be placed wherever public footpaths crossed a family's fields. In some cases a simple low fence or rough wall would shield these pots, to render them more attractive to the more sensitive and shy wayfarer. Every day the family would take a bucket and empty their pots into it, and carry the bucket back and empty it into large storage jars belonging to the family. These storage jars were placed on the edge of the rice drying grounds (††).
Cattle urine was a particularly valuable addition to the family storage jars. Several villagers have told us that cattle were trained to urinate as soon as they came back to the village at night. Boys of the family would stand by with special buckets on long poles to catch the urine: if the cattle were slow they would be whistled to in a special way, or be tapped gently with the rim of the bucket on the appropriate spot.
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